After five years as First Minister of Wales, it’s time for us to say goodbye to Mark Drakeford.
He has held many roles within the Welsh Government over the years, including as a Special Advisor to the former First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, as Health and Social Services Minister in 2013, as Finance and Local Government Minister in 2016, and finally, as First Minister in 2018.
We sat down with him for one last interview.
Thank you, First Minister, for taking the time to do one last interview with us. Firstly, what will you miss most about being First Minister?
I think the thing I’ll miss most is the fantastic opportunity it has given me to meet people, because every day is different, and every day is normally a chance to learn something new from somebody doing something extraordinary in so many different parts of Wales. I’m sure I will go on meeting people after being First Minister, but I will miss the chances it has brought me in that way.
What are you most proud of achieving during your time as First Minister?
It’s hard to just identify one thing, and I’m not keen on looking back, I prefer to look forward. But what I’ve tried to do as First Minister is to use that opportunity to do the difficult things; the challenging things. Not just rest on my laurels and do the things that are comfortable, but to make sometimes challenging decisions in the here and now, because it’s those things that will have long term benefits and pay off in the lives of the people who will come beyond my time as being First Minister.
You’ve met so many people from all over the world – who is the most famous person you’ve met?
I’ve met all sorts of very famous people from all walks of life, from people like Gareth Bale in the sporting world to the late Queen early on in my time as First Minister, to Hilary and Bill Clinton when they came to visit too. There are many people, the length and breadth of Wales, who I’ve had the privilege of meeting, and in their own way, every one of them stands out.
It’s been a difficult five years to say the least. What is the biggest challenge you faced?
The biggest challenge was undoubtedly coronavirus, because it required extra ordinary decisions that reached into every single person’s life at a time when there was genuine fear that we were living with a disease for which we had no vaccination and no cure. We didn’t know just how dangerous it was. My aim was to try and make sure that we always brought as many people around the table as possible, understood as best we could the impact of the decisions that we would make on people’s lives, and then come to decisions that meant we did everything we could to keep people in Wales safe at that most perilous point in their lives.
If you can pick one, what is your most memorable moment?
I’ve had many, many memorable moments, as you can imagine. Some of them are very sad. I’ve attended funerals, but also had some fantastic occasions, like World Cups and sporting celebrations. I’ve thought a bit about this and something that lives very powerfully in my mind is a time I was invited to go to Aberfan to mark an anniversary of the awful events that happened there all those years ago. I was introduced to two teachers who are in their eighties now, but they were in their twenties on that awful day the mountain slid down and engulfed the school and so many lives were lost. And in that moment, in that one encounter with those people who had themselves been there during something that has had such a powerful and shaping influence on the way we think about our industrial heritage, I really did feel the history of Wales resonating down the years.
There is no doubt that being First Minister is a time-consuming role. How will you be spending your time now?
Well, I’m going to be the Senedd member for Cardiff West and for most members of the Senedd, that is a full-time job. I’m looking forward to being able to do more in my own part of the world. My constituents in Cardiff West have had to put up with me being the First Minister, the Health Minister, the Local Government Minister and so on. Now I’ll be able to devote more time to that part of what I do. I also hope that I will have more time to do simple things like just being outside in the fresh air. I’ve spent a lot of my time as First Minister staring through the window and working inside when other people are out enjoying themselves in the sunshine. So I hope to get a little bit more of that.
So does that mean more gardening too?
Definitely more gardening, watching cricket, going for walks and just spending more time with my family. There are lots of things which I’m looking forward to doing.
What advice would you give to the future First Minister of Wales?
Well, my advice is to be bold, to use the chance while you’ve got it, to do the things that you think are most important. Because of the way the government works, you are always surrounded by precautionary advice; advice that tells you not to go as far as you would like to go or not to go as fast as you would like to go. Your job as a political leader is to put some counterweight into that system and to be ambitious, to be energetic, to be determined and to be bold.
Do you have any parting words for the people of Wales?
If I did have any message for people in Wales, it would be to be confident. To be confident of the people we are in the place that we are, knowing that with devolution we have that opportunity to take charge of so much of our own destiny. But the future of Wales has so many important possibilities; making sure our language thrives, using the natural resources we have to combat climate change, to create jobs in parts of Wales where jobs have been in short supply. It can be easy to be daunted in a world that is full of challenges. But my message for people in Wales, is to be confident of your own capacity and your own ability to shape that future.
My time as First Minister, over these last five years, has now come to an end. It has been a challenging time given the nature of the events we have faced. But I want to thank all those people in Wales whose extraordinary contributions make our country the place it is today.
If there’s one message I have for the people of Wales, it’s to be aware of your strengths; the extraordinary things that you can do in the wonderful place in which we live. And together we are always stronger in being able to shape the successful future we want for all our citizens here at home.
Diolch o galon i chi gyd,
Mark
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I hope that some of the dafter ideas both introduced and mooted by his administration depart with him. Particularly the 20mph blanket policy, lowest business rate relief in the UK, anti-tourist tax, what has driven our farmers to despair etc.
Diolch Mark. You have always seemed to me an honourable human being. Thank you for being our First Minister over the last five very difficult years.
if i’d have known he was planning a ’20 mph speed limit’ on ridiculous roads I would not have voted for him. Nobody minds outside schools, parks or built up areas but it’s gone too far